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    Family Formation

    4.9 (32 reviews)
    Closed 9:00 am - 5:00 pm

    Services - Family Formation

    Adoption services

    Auxiliary legal services

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    Ask the Community - Family Formation

    Review Highlights - Family Formation

    - Megan's small client load means that she is accessible, responsive and engaged with us as her clients.

    Mentioned in 27 reviews

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    People searched for Adoption Services 254 times last month within 15 miles of this business.

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    Joybound People & Pets

    Joybound People & Pets

    (614 reviews)

    About a month ago, I went to Joybound People & Pets to adopt a kitten, and I had such a wonderful…read moreexperience. Everyone was so kind, welcoming, and helpful throughout the whole process. I was looking for a baby kitten, and thankfully I found exactly the little cat I was hoping for. The adoption process was easy and smooth, and you can really tell how much the staff cares about the animals. The cats are very well treated, and the conditions they are kept in are excellent. Everything was clean, organized, and the animals looked healthy, happy, and loved. Thank you to everyone at Joybound People & Pets for all the care and dedication you give to these animals. I truly recommend this adoption center!

    My best friend lost her mom to cancer a few weeks ago. My friend lives out of state- so I have been…read moreassisting her locally. Her mom adopted the sweetest chihuahua from Arf back in 2021, the fur baby went blind about a year ago. So we were really concerned about how she would settle in a new environment, and we're trying to rehome the dog I went to Joybound a few weeks ago to ask if there was any chance they take back their animals in these circumstances. The woman at the welcome desk was so helpful explaining yes they do. She walked me thru the process to fill out the forms online They got back to my friend promptly to setup an appointment for a behavior assessment and vet evaluation. We had our appointment yesterday at 2. We arrived a half hour early so we wouldn't be rushed , and to help Lily stay as calm as possible. Everyone we encountered was delightful and so kind. No judgements- Lily came alive with tail wags and enthusiasm to be back at such a supportive rescue group. She was just basking in the attention and love. She passed her behavior test with flying colors. We were told she most likely will be going to a foster home first for a few weeks before she's available for adoption. We were told we can follow her online with her name, and see when she becomes available and she won't be on the website anymore once she finds her next loving home. Thank you Joybound for standing behind your animals and supporting families We also did not have to pay a surrender fee. We were encouraged to take our time and enjoy complementary coffee or tea, also offered a box of tissues We were already pulling out of the parking lot before our scheduled appointment time Can't think you enough for your kindness all around this hard experience

    Adoption Connection - Just a few of the babies we helped place in adoptive families in 2017.

    Adoption Connection

    (23 reviews)

    Lower Pacific Heights

    We attended our first Adoption 101 class in 2020 and the official outreach program in 2021. In our…read moresearch for agencies, we were really drawn to Adoption Connection (AC) b/c of their commitment and fierce advocacy for Birth mothers. After speaking with other agencies, attorneys and consultants, we felt that they were the most transparent not only with adoptive parents, but also with offering Birth Mothers perspective, counseling, and a listening ear to make the most informed decision during the most difficult time of their lives. We were told from the outset that 3 years+ was a realistic estimate in terms of placement and though we hoped it would be earlier, we understood how delicate this journey was. We were sent quarterly updates with the number of times our brochure had been presented (over 40 by the end of our process), but we had never met a Birth Mother in person yet. It's very easy to go to dark places and play the blame game as to why it hasn't happened yet, but we decided to turn our sadness into a year of yes. Yes to the trips, yes to the dinners, and yes to adventures that came our way. We started therapy and really worked on being the best version of ourselves we could for whenever we got the call. In our research, the best advice we were given is that as adoptive parents, we have to be ok with being 4th place in terms of choices for Birth Mothers who are placing their child up for adoption: 1st is with a birth parent 2nd is with a family member 3rd is with a member of their community We were more than happy to be 4th place and it's with that mindset, we were able to wait (as difficult as it was) almost 3 years for a placement. Our Birth Mother was very confident in her decision to place her child up for adoption, but understandably had second thoughts once the child was born. Those first 30 days were so stressful and AC really stepped up and not only offered comfort, perspective, and options for the Birth Mother, but also coached us through the difficult time of having the child with us and the possibility of things not working out. It was very important to all of us that our Birth Mother felt secure and safe in whatever decision she made and in the end, she felt that we were the best option for her child. Adoption is not for the faint of heart, but if not for the expertise and advice of the team at AC, we definitely would not have been able to honestly tell our child that this decision was not made lightly and was made out of an abundance of love b/c he was so wanted by all parties. We're so thankful for the Adoption Connection Team and their continued support of Birth Mothers and Adoptive Families.

    This is a close to a scam as it gets by avoiding the legal classification as scam. The whole…read morecompany seems to be set up by family law experts as 'legalized sam' skirting regulations as much as possible. You pay a high fee for outreach ($30k) to be shown 1-2 times a year to potential birthmothers. You will not have any matches for years. After that the 'case workers' will push an adoption on you without giving you any disclosure required by CA/ Federal law about the baby or birthmother situation. They will label it as only chance. Everything is hush hush. The cases they show you before you pay the fees are so different than what you will actually see it is heartbreaking. Avoid at all costs (like other reviewers here have detailed).

    A Better Way

    A Better Way

    (5 reviews)

    South Berkeley

    This Company wher do I begin. Anyone who plays games with you Lively hood, Defermates you Character…read moreboth Libel and Slander, Perjury, Ostruction of justice, false filing, the financial hardship, emotional disstress, Malpractice, Bias and Confirmation Bias. I wish I could speak to a Lawyer is this a case. Alot of Professional s are going outside there job description s Breach of Confidentiality. Do to this an being denied a Greives form which I thought was my right to have and I was told they were opey available but were never there. Lost my Job do to this program among other things. If you go here make sure you kiss the teachers but... Dont speak your mind when something isnt right. Cause 90 % of the time None of it is but to them they're always right. If the teacher yells and screams at you and front of the classmats dont respond. The teacher wont tell you she will slightly report she doesnt want you in the mandatory Program. No email no text or call to inform you just either hopes you never show back up or if you do they will brake confidentiality infront of everyone out in the open... Question Why are you here. No Professionalism like hay So and So can you have a seat The Spervisor or Director would like to speak to you about the program. Everything is really personal if you get on there bad side. Never finshed program paid for have to start over do to this and pay out of pocket

    I am an established resource parent in Alameda County, I originally went through the county itself…read more(social services) to be certified for foster care etc and then we later adopted through the county. We now have been finalized with our daughter for 3 years and are ready to expand our family again through fost /adopt, but we decided that we wanted more input than we were allowed to have with the county. My daughters sister (who was also in foster care) ended up in a great home and that all came about through A Better Way, so we decided to look into their program and have begun our pride training classes. Since this is my 2nd time going through pride training (my last training was more than 5 years ago) initially I was not at all excited, but I have to say that I am really enjoying the classes. Being that I have been a foster parent, a concurrent planning placement parent and now an adoptive parent I am quite familiar with how things work, what the kids go through etc... and A Better Way does a really good job of balancing giving out that information (and not scaring people) along with presenting the lighter side of fost/adopt. I am very eager to finish the training and get to the next and so far so good. I would recommend a better way to anyone considering fost/adoption.

    Alternative Family Services - Foster parents needed! Space in your heart and home? Call Thomas Whittington (510)282-8354 to learn about becoming a foster parent.

    Alternative Family Services

    (5 reviews)

    I joined AFS as a foster parent and was initially given 3 children who were a part of a family of 9…read morekids. Shortly after we were asked to take a fourth child. A few months later the parents of the 9 gave birth to a tenth child and we were asked to take him at 8 days old. My wife and I had the kids for 22 months. When the initial 3 arrived, the 2 elder ones were 11 and 9 years old while the third was 7. That 7 year old could sing the alphabet song but could no recognize A from B. When he left my home 22 months later he was reading at a Fourth Grade level. During our time one of the kids therapists (Katera) told us that she'd been in this field for 25 years and my wife and I were easily the best foster parents she'd ever worked with. Not only were we involved in every aspect of their lives which included participating in school activities. We were fierce advocates for their education and wellbeing. Bearing in mind that this was a family of 10 and we lived close to Discovery Kingdom I bought at my expense season tickets for all eligible children to that they could attend the park as a family. That meant the other foster parents dropping them off at the park and we took responsibility for the entire group. It was urging Tim's like these that we could see the love these children had for each other. My wife and I discussed it at length and decided we wanted to adopt the 7 youngest children as the older 3 were above the age of 12 and chose not to be adopted. At this point within the Child Protection Services the case was transferred from Foster Care to Adoption Care. Our home was visited maybe on 3 occasions by a Ms.Shipe who turned out to the a**hole of all a**holes. After her third visit she contacted AFS and asked them remove the children immediately from my home. I assume that the agency knowing that the children were at my home for 22 months without any problems waited for about 5 days before taking action then removing them on the sixth day. I tried to prevent this by asking AFS the reason for this, as was told they were removed because Shipe said "she knows there is a problem in that house but she just doesn't know what". Made a follow up attempt to meet with the VP of AFS with no results. Given the emotional investment we had in the kids being our family both my wife and I went into a state of depression and crazy thing is after 1 1/2 years AFS had the verbosity to call and ask us to take 3 more kids. They found no problems with our care for these children but did not defend us from Shipe leading me to believe they are in business not to help children but to make money. It remains to be seen if this is just the way THE SYSTEM WORKS or whether this was just a case that slipped through the cracks. I have sat on this for almost 5 years but it has always bothered me and I feel I need to get it off my chest.

    Would not recommend working with this agency if you are a working parent. My partner and I filled…read moreout a form inquiring about the fost-adopt program and registered for orientation. Almost immediately we got a call from a woman named Lisa. Her first question was "so who is quitting their job to take care of the child?" I explained that we had good parental leave at our jobs (almost a year), and then we'd look into licensed childcare providers. She responded "foster kids can't go to daycare, because their brains are damaged! Anyway, NO child should be put in day care, even bio kids." Yikes! Definitely trauma affects brain development, but calling all foster kids "brain damaged" is misleading and creates stigma. I was also surprised about the daycare-for-bio-kids comments. That kind of shaming is bad for all families (bio, foster, and adoptive) - makes you wonder how they treat the parents trying to reunify! This woman also asked "why haven't you already arranged parental leave from your jobs?" It seems bizarre to expect that prospective foster parents have parental leave arranged before attending an info session. Most foster parents we know start talking to their workplace about leave as they complete training and can accept placements. The experience put us off applying to be foster parents for a while. We eventually did identify another agency that seemed a little more professional.

    Fishel Law Firm - Entrance to Fishel Law Firm's conference room.

    Fishel Law Firm

    (11 reviews)

    This review is for the receptionist of the law firm. My family is has a legal plan through work…read moreallows us to have consultation time with attorneys. Fishel law was one of the names provided by the plan's client service. I called to schedule an appointment. I had to leave a message the first time but decide to try my luck again a little later. I wasn't expecting to speak to the attorney right away but just wanted to provide my info and get the process going. The receptionist was rude and stand-offish. She said she was helping the lawyer with something else and haven't gotten to returning calls yet. I was thinking, "What? You're on the phone right now. All you have to do is take down my information. Takes less than 2 minutes." I asked her how soon will it be for her to call me back. "I don't know," she replied. Needless to say, I ended up calling another attorney's office. I didn't get to speak to the attorney right away, but my information was promptly taken and I was told that I'd receive a call back in 24-48 hours. Customer service. It matters.

    I am beyond grateful for finding Attorney James Fishel and Paralegal Sunny DeBord…read more When I retained him, he had less than a month to get up to speed. I was extremely impressed by his ability to review a very long and complicated custody/DV case with an eagle eye for detail. He also had the ability to get the "big picture", which included the safety of me and my children. He was able to hold a solid understanding of the past, present and our future need with ease. His methodology and organization was stellar (this is a nod to Sonny as well). His strategy was solid. His demeanor in court was respectful, kind, diplomatic AND razor sharp. I'd rehire him again in a heartbeat.

    Family Formation - adoptionservices - Updated July 2026

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